Police Inspector Milind Madhukar Kathe has been appointed the new chief of the Crime Intelligence Unit of the Mumbai Police, days after Sachin Vaze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case.
Mumbai Police has posted 24 inspectors to crime branch units, whose heads were transferred last week following Vaze’s arrest, reports said. Inspector Yogesh Chavan has been given the charge of anti-extortion cell.
The new appointments came days after Hemant Nagrale replaced Param Bir Singh as the Mumbai Police Commissioner.
Vaze, an assistant police inspector with the Mumbai police, is in the NIA's custody for his alleged role in planting an explosive-laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's multi-storey residence Antilia in south Mumbai on February 25 and the subsequent murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, the purported owner of that vehicle. Vaze has been charged under sections 16 and 18 of the UAPA.
On Tuesday, the NIA seized a high-end car apparently registered in the name of Vaze from Navi Mumbai. The probe team had been looking for this Mitsubishi Outlander SUV for the last several days, said an official.
Earlier, the NIA had seized at least five high-end cars allegedly used by Vaze which include two Mercedes Benz, a Prado, the Scorpio which was used to carry explosives, and an Innova car which tailed the Scorpio on the day of planting of explosives outside Ambani's residence.